Dukes out, Solomon in at KFNC; Rome moving to CBS Sports Radio, will air on 650 AM

KFNC (97.5 FM) midday hosts Fred Faour and A.J. Hoffman will move to afternoon drive to replace departing host Carl Dukes, and Chronicle columnist Jerome Solomon will return to the ESPN affiliate to host a midday show, station owner David Gow said Thursday.

Dukes, who joined KFNC in March 2008, is leaving Houston to join CBS Radio’s WCGZ-FM in Atlanta, Gow said. Faour and Hoffman, who have cohosted at middays since May 2010, will move to the 4-7 p.m. slot while Tepper, the station’s program director, will move from the afternoon show to middays to work with Solomon, who hosted a show on the station in 2007-2008.

“Fred and A.J. have been ready for afternoon drive, and we think listeners will enjoy them in that time slot,” Gow said. “We are delighted to add Jerome. He’s one of the top voices in sports in this market.”

Gow, who also owns KGOW (1560 AM) and Yahoo! Sports Radio, recently acquired KFNC in a bankruptcy auction after the station was placed into Chapter 11 by its former owner, Cumulus Media.

Also Thursday, CBS Sports Radio said it will assume distribution of the Jim Rome Show next year. Rome’s show will now air on the new network beginning Wednesday, Jan. 2.

The announcement means that Rome will return to the Houston radio dial at CBS Radio’s KIKK (650

AM), which will air CBS Sports Radio during daytime hours. Rome aired for more than a decade on CBS’ KILT (610 AM), which dropped the show last year to air a local midday show hosted by Brad Davies and Mike Meltser.

“We’re excited to launch the network (on 650 AM) and feel they’re putting together a lot of great hosts,” said Gavin Spittle, who as program director for KILT made the decision to drop Rome. “We’re thrilled we have (Davies and Meltser) on 610 AM. We made the best business decision. Now Rome is back in the market, and we hope we’ll get a good deal of traction. We’re glad he’s partnering with CBS.”

Rome’s show had been distributed since the mid-1990s by Clear Channel’s Premiere Sports Radio. His television show recently moved from ESPN to CBS Sports Network, clearing the way for him to join CBS on the radio side as well.